Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Fiji with 2 young kids.

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea

I wanted to post something in return having got great guidance from many people on this forum.

Our family of 4 children aged 4 and 6 headed to Fiji in June of 2010. We spent 7 nights and were on a tight budget. We landed at Nadi early in the morning and ecided to book a local hotel in the hope of acclimatising and getting some rest, We booked the Raffles Gateway hotel which satisfied our needs perfectly. We grabbed a bus into Nadi (the stop is immediately outside the hotel). Nadi was an interesting experience having arrived from LA, the two places could hardly be any more different!. We then booked a coach trip to the Shangri-La resort. The resort provided everything you could ever wish for (golf, water sports, beaches, diving etc) and we were secluded on our own island. The food in Fiji ranged from local cuisine to basic Italian/american, so everyone was happy. Having relaxed we decided to take a tour out to a local village, and this proved to be the highlight from the whole family, we met the amazing schoolchildren and drank Kava with the locals. A real Fiji experience and a life lesson in just how poor people can be, but that happiness is not based on the size of ones bank balance.

The Fijians are wonderful people with beaming smiles and a welcoming "Bula" every time they meet you, The weather was perfect, the swimming and reef snorkelling spectacular, the pools delightful.

If you are considering Fiji as a family holiday then please do it... i am sure you will not regret it, but please take the time to meet the 'real Fiji' not just your resort hosts...